6.5L headgaskets

[Dezman125]

Hi
Having had to pull a head off my truck.Before i found a cracked head i was woundering if anyone had bad experiances with the 6.5L headgasket?
I used the felpro 6.5 headgasket so the thought crossed my mind that mabey it was the gasket.
Thanks for the input smile.gif

[TimK]

Yukon,

I did have problems on my older 6.2 with the 6.5L Felpro gaskets. There is coolant channel on the front right of the head that is not open on the head but where there is an opening on the gasket. There is a matching cooling channel on the left side head. On the left side head I placed a very little amount of silicone rubber around this opening on the gasket. On the right side head I did not. The right side head leaked coolant immediately. It started leaking within a couple of minutes of getting the radiator full even before I started the engine. Boy was I ****ed. I spent the next 15 minutes cussing myself for not using the silcone on the other cooling passage and I didn't want to tear the head off again because that's a hell of a lot of work. I decided to run the engine through couple of temperature cycles without the radiator being pressurised. (I left the radiator cap loose.) This sealed the leak and it never leaked after that.

TimK

[JeepSJ]

You should NEVER use silicone or any other sealant on a head gasket (unless specifically called for my the manufacturer). Could you have had the right side gasket on backwards? I used the Felpro gaskets and didn't have any mismatched holes or ports.

[Rob C]

I am interested to hear about the use of Felpro 6.5 gaskets on a 6.2. More Power says in the R&R guide that he would use 6.5 head gaskets in a 6.2 project, because:

1) 6.5 gaskets have additional metal re-inforcement that the 6.2 gaskets don't have

2) 6.2 gaskets have irregularly shaped cylinder cutouts, but the 6.5 gasket cutouts were nearly perfectly round.

I think I have read about this extra coolant passage opening in the 6.5 gaskets before (maybe before the server crash ?). Has anyone else used these gaskets and had or not had this problem ?

JeepSJ, do you know the part # for your Felpro gaskets ?

[jcomp]

I used felpro 6.5 head gaskets on my 6.2 rebuild. However, I also put on a pair of 6.5 heads. So far no problems.

[crew84]

I had the problem of a leak using 6.5 Felpro head gaskets. The early 6.2 heads had a kidney shape water passage that would not seal with the 6.5 head gasket. That is because the seam between the metal of the gasket and the gasket material ran into the seam. The water would follow the seam out of the head. Jim followed this problem up and there should be an article somewhere. That is there used to be posted.
Picture of gasket (http://pages.prodigy.net/archery1/leak.JPG)

[CleviteKid]

The article Crew84 remembers is in the Member's Area, Reference Section at <CYLINDER HEADS> (http://www.thedieselpage.com/members/gmheads.htm) , where the key statement is
GM recommends installing a brass plug kit (GM PN-14077197) , similar to an odd shaped freeze plug in these passageways. The kit includes a plug driver and a set of plugs. You supply the sealant (ie. Loctite soft plug sealant) and an arbor press. The inside edges of the holes need to be dressed to remove rust and create a smooth sealing surface. To help prevent future leaks, always install the plug kit whenever you remove the heads if your 6.2L is one of the early versions. Once more, The Clevite Kid drags his weary bones up on his soap box to proclaim:

"There is more to TheDieselPage.com than just the Forums. Visit the Homepage, www.TheDieselPage.com, (http://www.TheDieselPage.com,) surf around, and be amazed at the wealth of information scrolling across your computer monitor."

End of sermon,

Dr. Lee :cool:

[Peter J. Bierman]

I have 6.5 gaskets on the 6.2 twin turbo engine.
Blew one gasket because off bad timing, but no leaks or so what so ever.

Peter